Two hundred years after Mary Shelley's novel the brilliant but mad Doctor (Thomas Kretschmann) has sustained his creature and himself over two centuries through genetic experimentation. In present-day America Detective O'Connor (Parker Posey) is investigating a series of horrific murders which leads her to the doctor and his creature. What she uncovers reveals the strange evolution the doctor and his creation undergo over the course of two centuries and the divergent paths creator and monster take in pursuing good or evil. 在玛丽·雪莱的小说两百年后,才华横溢但疯狂的医生使他自己和他的怪物从两个世纪前的当初的实验一直幸存下来。如今,美国探员 O'Connor 在调查系列谋杀案时,被引向了医生和他的怪物,并揭露出在长达两个多世纪的漫长岁月中,医生和他作品间的奇特演变和他们踏上善与恶的不同道路。
雷纳德(马克·里朗斯 Mark Rylance 饰)是一位手艺精湛的裁缝,一场火灾之后,他离开了伦敦,来到芝加哥,在这里经营着一间属于自己的裁缝店。店里的员工除了雷纳德自己外,还有一个名叫梅布尔(佐伊·达奇 Zoey Deutch 饰)的姑娘,梅布尔的父亲是一个臭名昭著的恶棍,背负着父亲的“盛名”,梅布尔下定决心要攒够钱,去看一看这个肮脏黑暗的街区以外的世界。 一天深夜,黑帮大佬罗伊(西蒙·拉塞尔·比尔 Simon Russell Beale 饰)的儿子里奇(迪伦·奥布莱恩 Dylan O'Brien 饰)和他的副手弗朗西斯(强尼·弗林 Johnny Flynn 饰)闯入了店中,里奇身受重伤,在弗朗西斯的威胁之下,雷纳德处理了里奇的伤口,将他从死亡线上救了回来,但与此同时,他也被卷入了这个黑帮家族的纷争之中。
In 1905, French seminarian Bruno Reidel is found guilty of murdering a child. At the request of the doctors observing him, he writes his memoirs to explain his action.